Familicide and domestic homicide study must lead to action

BY: DEPUTY KATHLEEN FUNCHION SINN FEIN TD FOR KILKENNY CARLOW

Sinn Féin TD Kathleen Funchion, has today urged the government to act on the results of a new study into familicide and domestic homicides.

e study has recommended that a national database should be established for reporting on violent family deaths.

Speaking today, Teachta Funchion said:

“ e review is an important watershed moment in what are extremely shocking and violent cases that tear communities apart. A piece of work such as this has been long overdue.

“I commend the families who have campaigned tirelessly to ensure that families facing devastating violence like this receive better support.

“ e review covered the years 2000-2018 and only included cases where all legal proceedings had been completed. is gave a gure of at least 166 persons having died in familial violence in that period, with the dathat family homicide review imple-

State Pathologist’s o ce telling researchers a further 14 cases between 2014 and 2019 did not feature in public records.

“ is demonstrates the urgent need for a national da tabase on such deaths and the upcoming DSGBV Agency Bill provides an opportunity to advance policy in this area.

“Sinn Féin have long argued that family homicide review panels must be imple mented, with inter-agency collaboration taking place to ensure risk factors are identi ed.

“ e report must be implemented rapidly and it is welcome that a number of government ministers have responded to the report’s ndings.

Every second counts for families at risk of such violence and we cannot a ord to see any further delays.”

Responding to April’s Homeless Report, issued by the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage that found 12,259 people accessing emergency accommodation, David Carroll, Chief Executive of Depaul said he was “hugely disappointed” to see numbers continuing to increase and that another “appalling milestone” had been passed.

David continued: “People in short term emergency accommodation are in need of an urgent lifeline to exit homelessness.

“Whilst we welcome the Government’s commitment to increase housing delivery, today’s published report highlights the critical need for targets to be ramped up to re ect the urgency of current housing demands to get people out of temporary accommodation.

“E orts and initiatives must be made to ensure that housing can be accessed by those most in need. An increased emphasis on housing for homeless people is essential for people in temporary accommodation. We would like to see the tenant in situ scheme expanded so that councils are supported to continue to respond. We believe that the targets to secure leased properties for social housing use should be increased immediately above the 1,000 tenancy target set by Government.

“At present one in two Depaul service users have been staying in our emergency accommodation services beyond the recommended six-month stay and 60% of these have been in short term accommodation services for one year or more – this is not a good long-term environment for anyone – adults or children. Local Authorities must prioritise those in temporary accommodation when new social housing comes on stream.

“We have always believed